Andrea Pirlo, only four months after his debut as a coach, can already lift a first trophy: the Italian Supercup 2020, won against Napoli by his friend Gennaro Gattuso (2-0) thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata.
"It's a great joy, it's even more beautiful than as a player", savored the "Maestro", showing that his Juve still under construction, transparent against Inter Milan (0-2) on Sunday, has already inherited its winning culture.
His lucky charm Ronaldo, who unlocked the match in the second half, is convinced that this title announces another at the end of the league season: "This trophy is very important, because it can give confidence for the future."
Even if this victory in the Supercup also owes a lot to the penalty missed by the Neapolitan captain Lorenzo Insigne at the end of the match and two high-class reflex saves by his goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Juventus won its ninth Italian Supercup (in 33 editions), for this edition which marked the return of this competition to Italy (in Reggio Emilia) after two editions in Saudi Arabia, in this period of coronavirus.
After the missed meeting between the two teams at the start of the season due to coronavirus, a championship match which will finally be rescheduled, the reunion this time took place between Pirlo and Gattuso, their first face to face as coaches after having been together world champions with Italy in 2006 and won two Scudetti and two Champions Leagues with AC Milan.
Pirlo and Gattuso appeared on the edge of the lawn as they were on the ground: restrained but precise in his instructions for the "Maestro", eruptive for the Neapolitan, several times called to order to be out of the area reserved for technicians.
Ronaldo's paw
But the Turin coach had no intention of allowing himself to be distracted by his ex-friend: Pirlo had demanded a reaction after the non-match against Inter Milan (0-2) on Sunday and he got it.
Even if we had to wait 45 minutes, the first period was only a long round of observation, on a very average lawn.
The Turinese initially rather held the ball but without being really dangerous.
The Neapolitans were more direct.
And if they could have better negotiated one or two blocks, the Azzurri had the best opportunity of the first period.
Szczesny had to pull out all the stops on a point blank header from Hirving Lozano (28th).
Pirlo might have changed the men compared to the defeat in Milan, his team still struggled in the middle, only the returning Juan Cuadrado, just out of quarantine, finding flaws on the right.
From the resumption, the Turin coach therefore changed things by launching Federico Bernardeschi instead of Chiesa, transparent.
A winning choice because Juve found more variety and percussion in their game, forcing Napoli to back down.
And Cristiano Ronaldo, as often, unblocked the match: on a corner, Tiémoué Bakayoko inadvertently deflected the ball towards Ronaldo, completely alone, and CR7 signed in force his 20th goal of the season (64th).
Naples will have had the opportunities to come back but it was the evening of Sczesny, very happy to see Insigne send his penalty to the side (80th) then decisive again in added time, before Morata sealed the match with a final against ( 90 + 5th).
"I can not blame my players, we can miss penalties," said Gattuso, who has not finished with Pirlo, Napoli and Juve being neck and neck in the league.
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